Breaking news - Breast Cancer Breakthrough! #breastcancer

Scientists at the @ICR_London have discovered how to predict which ER+ HER2+ cancers have a higher risk of recurrence so they can target which women need extra treatment like CDK inhibitors to reduce the risk of recurrence - WOW! This also means that thousands of women can safely avoid drugs like CDK inhibitors and their side effects

Women with ER+ HER2+ breast cancers were given 2 weeks of hormone treatment before surgery as part of the POETIC trial. Some women didn’t do as well as others and we didn’t know why - until now.

They looked at tumour samples taken before and after the hormone therapy and saw that breast cancers can mutate in that short time!

There are 5 subtypes of breast cancer and they looked at 2 - Luminal A (good prognosis) and Luminal B (not as good)

The patients with tumours that stayed as Luminal A did well. We know these women don’t need CDK inhibitors.
28% Luminal B tumours CHANGED to Luminal A in just two weeks! These women also did well and didn’t need CDK inhibitors.

But 6% women with Luminal B tumours stayed as Luminal B. They didn’t do as well. We can now accurately predict that it’s these women that do need CDK inhibitors.

200,000 women each year are diagnosed with ER+ HER2+ breast cancer. Scientists are now calling for every woman to be given 2 weeks of hormone therapy pre-op so we can give the right women extra treatment at the right time.

Isn’t science incredible?